...just about the most unpopular champion in the history of the prize ring.

...he circled around the challenger and usually worked from behind...

Often many of the blows he sprayed from his weaving cat-like crouch were low...

...buried his pearly whites in...and shook...

...hung over the ropes helpless. In that position...twice struck him, left and right...

What did he do to you? He threw me on the bed and that is where he done the rest...He threw you on the bed for what purpose? I don't know what you call it. Use the words, what did he throw you on the bed for-to have sexual intercourse with you? Yes sir. Were your clothes torn any? No Sir. There wasn't a mark on you? No Sir. Did you struggle in anyway? Yes sir, I fought him al l the way...Was there any marks on him when you got through? Well, sir, I don't know; I didn't look to see...

Just one more re-telling of the sordid, violent life of Mike Tyson, as the long shadows draw on his career..His hitting after the bell of Olin Norris, his biting of Evander Holyfield, the brutal annihilation of Frank Bruno, his unabatted attack on Lou Savarese and the referee, his rape of Desire Washington.

Old news. Well, actually older than you might think....

The first three quotes are from 1923 regarding Jack Dempsey's fight with Luis Angel Firpo. The fourth quote refers to Mysterious Billy Smith taking a bite out of Tommy Ryan. The fifth refers to Tommy Ryan striking a near unconscious Billy Smith while Smith was draped on the ropes with his back turned and the final paragraph is a brief synopsis of Goldie Smith's testimony regarding her alleged rape at the hands of Stanley Ketchel.

The true tragedy of Michael Tyson's professional life does not lie in squandered potential, nor criminal behavior, but rather in the sad fact that he, perhaps the greatest of all heavyweight fist fighters, was just simply born too late.

In a society that scrutinizes it leaders into mediocrity, that expects it's war's to be without casualties, it's violence to all be correographed by Hollywood, there is no place for a true fist fighter. As modern society glorified Dempsey and mourned Ketchel ,they villified, condemned and crucified the one last true keeper of the flame. In truth ,Michael Tyson spent more years exiled from the ring than Jack Johnson and Muhammad Ali combined. His remarkable talent sacrificied on the pyre of public opinion.

Michael Gerard Tyson

The Last American Fist Fighter

O! the fierce wretchedness that glory brings us...

-William Shakesphere. The Tempest

by

Harry Shaffer

The opinons expressed in this article are most definitely those of the management. Your comments/reactions are welcomed in the Tyson chatroom.